Episode 918 (13th October 1969)
Plot Hilda wants rid of the squatters. Annie bores Emily rigid with her speech preparation, even though she hasn't accepted the invitation yet. Len annoys Emily when he tells her that the council will be carrying out their eviction today. Hilda thinks Stan has a stomach ulcer due to the pace of modern living. Maggie admits she is against the squatters and Ena takes both her and Val to task for their views. Stan and Betty keep their activities secret and Hilda thinks Stan's got another woman. Len tells Dave and Ken that the squatters have got to be out by 6.00pm or else. Hilda pretends to Maggie that the husband of a friend of hers has problems and suggests it could be another woman. Maggie sadly thinks her "friend" is right. Annie bores the regulars with her speech talk but they are all at each other's throats about the squatters. Ena's view has changed and she thinks they should learn to look after themselves and Dave is using them for this own ends. An argument breaks out in the Rovers between the different sides of the debate. Maggie advises Hilda to get her "friend" to try to put her husband off seeing his other woman. As 6.00pm nears, Val grows tense and demands to know where Ken stands. She isn't satisfied when he tells her both she and Dave are right but she's making a fool of herself and doesn't like seeing herself as intolerant. Stan puts Hilda off joining him at The Flying Horse as he goes out again in his best suit. At 6.00pm, Emily and Audrey try to block Len and Cyril but Dave announces that a farmer in the Cheshire village of Chelford offered the mother, Mrs Storey, a job and accommodation to go with it. Ena tells them they've all been used by Dave. He says his goodbyes and leaves. Annie goes to Joan's, annoyed by the lack of interest in her speech. Hilda hears from Len that Betty has gone out by herself and assumes she's with Stan. Cast Regular cast *Annie Walker - Doris Speed *Emily Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire *Betty Turpin - Betty Driver *Hilda Ogden - Jean Alexander *Stan Ogden - Bernard Youens *Ena Sharples - Violet Carson *Audrey Fleming - Gillian McCann *Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson *Kenneth Barlow - William Roache *Valerie Barlow - Anne Reid *Maggie Clegg - Irene Sutcliffe *Dickie Fleming - Nigel Humphreys *Cyril Turpin - William Moore Guest cast *Dave Robbins - Jon Rollason Places *Coronation Street *Rovers Return Inn - Public/Snug *13 Coronation Street - Back room, kitchen and hallway *14 Coronation Street - Living room and hallway *Corner Shop - Shop and back room Notes *On the countdown clock for Part Two, Doris Speed can be heard asking if there is "a bit of film first" before the studio action begins and is told not. Indeed, the first scene is set in the Rovers Return Inn with her at the forefront. *The Squatters in No.12 in this and the previous two episodes are spoken of but never seen. They are identified as a Mrs Storey and her three children who took up occupancy after her husband was sent to jail. *The scenes on the Grape Street set were recorded on 16mm film. *This episode features a subtly different arrangement of the closing theme music. *''TV Times'' synopsis: Hilda puts two and two together and makes an eternal triangle *Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 7,050,000 homes (3rd place). Notable dialogue Ena Sharples: "By heck! They can live surrounded by evil and muck for years without turning a hair. But let a bit fall on their own doorstep and they sprout more principles and moral indignation than a young parson." Category:1969 episodes